Mike Grehan is a Director at Incisive Media and producer of one of the longest-running Internet conferences, formerly known as Search Engines Strategies, recently rebranded as ClickZ Live. In addition to explaining what online merchants can get out of attending the conference, Grehan talks about some of the challenges retailers face as Google evolves its marketing programs, from Product Listing Ads to changes impacting email marketers. A fascinating conversation with a pioneer in the search marketing field. NOTE: If you have a problem listening to the podcast using the FireFox browser, go to Tools, Options, click on "applications" and change both Mp3 sound formats to Windows Media player (click on Quick Time in the right column to change). Or you can use another browser such as Internet Explorer or Google Chrome. Run Time: 16:45

Eric Nash of Stamps.com talked to EcommerceBytes Editor Ina Steiner just days before the USPS rate changes took effect on Sunday, January 26, 2014. He reviewed some of the major changes that online sellers should know about and said the good news was that for Priority Mail, popular with online sellers, rates are going up a net zero percent. But pay attention: one class of mail is going up 24 cents. Eric also shares a tip on one of the best ways to send packages with a weight of between 2 to 15 pounds - it might surprise you. Don't miss this interview with an online postage expert. NOTE: If you have a problem listening to the podcast using the FireFox browser, go to Tools, Options, click on "applications" and change both Mp3 sound formats to Windows Media player (click on Quick Time in the right column to change). Or you can use another browser such as Internet Explorer or Google Chrome. Run Time: 18:32

EcommerceBytes editor Ina Steiner spoke to Rakuten's COO and Chief Marketing Officer Bernard Luthi on Monday to discuss results of the Black Friday holiday shopping weekend. Rakuten saw a couple of days with growth over 100%, and saw shoppers start their buying early in the week. Luthi shared information about top-selling products and categories on Rakuten and also had some tips for online sellers during the final weeks of the holiday shopping season. NOTE: If you have a problem listening to the podcast using the FireFox browser, go to Tools, Options, click on "applications" and change both Mp3 sound formats to Windows Media player (click on Quick Time in the right column to change). Or you can use another browser such as Internet Explorer or Google Chrome. Run time: 12:22

ZooZ helps online merchants create a streamlined checkout process on their online and mobile websites. Noam Inbar, Vice President of Business Development for ZooZ joined EcommerceBytes to discuss a new service that lets mobile shoppers purchase an item by tapping on an ad. Rather than being brought to a checkout page on a different site, the consumer can purchase the product in a full native checkout experience, and without requiring credit card details to be re-entered. Inbar, formerly of PayPal, explains how ZooZ helps retailers and explains how the company is working with ad networks to deliver its in-ad payments solution. NOTE: If you have a problem listening to the podcast using the FireFox browser, go to Tools, Options, click on "applications" and change both Mp3 sound formats to Windows Media player (click on Quick Time in the right column to change). Or you can use another browser such as Internet Explorer or Google Chrome. Run Time: 13:07

eBay's Director of Seller Protections Rich Matsuura joined EcommerceBytes to talk about how eBay protects sellers from bad buyers through its Seller Protection Program. What constitutes feedback extortion? Can low-volume sellers ever recover from low DSR ratings? Why not give sellers automatic 5-star DSRs if a buyer doesn't file an issue or leave feedback in a certain time frame? These were some of the questions sellers asked on the EcommerceBytes Blog that Matsuura addresses in this fascinating look inside eBay's efforts to improve the selling environment on its marketplace. NOTE: If you have a problem listening to the podcast using the FireFox browser, go to Tools, Options, click on "applications" and change Mp3 sound formats to Windows Media player (click on Quick Time in the right column to change). If that doesn't work, use another browser such as Internet Explorer or Google Chrome. Run Time: 31:08

Buy.com opened its site to third-party sellers beginning in 2009 and now has 5,000 active sellers on the Buy.com Marketplace- which now exceeds the first-party distribution business. Buy.com's Chief Marketing & Operating Officer Bernard Luthi and Senior Director of Merchant Acquisition and Business Development George Chang joined EcommerceBytes to talk about the program and what qualifications sellers must meet in order to sell on Buy, along with information about its fulfillment program, which categories are open to third-party sellers, and the hot categories for third-party sellers. They also tackled industry issues, such as same-day delivery and free shipping. NOTE: If you have a problem listening to the podcast using the FireFox browser, go to Tools, Options, click on "applications" and change Mp3 sound formats to Windows Media player (click on Quick Time in the right column to change). If that doesn't work, use another browser such as Internet Explorer or Google Chrome. Run Time: 20:10

Rafael Zimberoff is Product Manager for ShipRush and joined EcommerceBytes Editor Ina Steiner to talk about eBay's new international shipping program. The eBay Global Shipping Program (GSP) is designed to facilitate cross border trade, and Zimberoff says there are some aspects of the program that eBay sellers will find quite compelling. One is the exposure U.S. GSP listings will receive in international markets, and another, of course, is simplification - sellers will not have to worry about calculating duties and tariffs, nor will they have to fill out customs forms. EcommerceBytes broke the news about this new program in August, you can read the article for more details about the program, and then hear what shipping guru Rafael Zimberoff has to say about it in this informative podcast interview along with some shipping tips for eBay and multichannel sellers. Run Time: 23:36

In May, Google announced the end of free listings in Product Search, and on October 1, 2012, the search giant is moving to a paid model on the Google Shopping platform. Demandware Solutions Marketing Lead Gary Lombardo sat down with EcommerceBytes Editor Ina Steiner at the recent Shop.org Summit in September to discuss how merchants are dealing with the changes. Retailers must ensure that the quality of their data feeds is "bulletproof," Lombardo said, and offered advice for smaller merchants who may not have the level of experience as their larger competitors when it comes to paid search and comparison shopping engines. You can also find Gary sharing insights on the digital commerce industry as part of the Digital Commerce Next podcast and the Commerce Innovations blog. Run Time: 12:45

Merchants were still in disbelief that Google was moving its Shopping search engine to a pay-to-play model at the June 2012 Internet Retailer conference in Chicago. Ecommerce Manager for Shopvisible Will Devlin sat down with EcommerceBytes during the show to discuss the changes. He revealed that some clients have 10 - 15 percent of their total web revenue coming from Google Product Search (aka Google Shopping) and are preparing for the transition. There are some smaller merchants who will pull out of Google Shopping once it becomes a paid-only model, Devlin believes, and Bing has an opportunity to grow their merchant base as merchants look for additional sources of free traffic. "Anecdotally we've heard conversions are great on Bing," he said. As for online marketplaces, more merchants are looking to eBay lately, while merchants continue to see Amazon as a necessary platform on which to sell, despite concerns. NOTE: If you have a problem listening to the podcast using the FireFox browser, go to Tools, Options, click on "applications" and change both Mp3 sound formats to Windows Media player (click on Quick Time in the right column to change). Or you can use another browser such as Internet Explorer or Google Chrome. Run Time: 10:07

Jim Davidson of Bronto shared some tips and information from the company's "Top 12 Marketing Tips for the Holidays" report. Davidson says online merchants should start looking now at last year's promotions and look at them from a lot of different angles. For example, identify your best performing promotion, and determine the factors that made it successful. Companies send more messages during holidays - Davidson said companies should ask how the team will be able to react to the increase in frequency and how they will deal with bumps in the road that may come their way. Every merchant should have a contingency plan for holiday marketing, he said. And think about customer segmentation - merchants may want to send different messages to loyal customers versus prospects. Learn more about preparing for the holidays from a marketing perspective in this engaging podcast from the floor of the 2012 Internet Retailer conference. Run Time: 9:38